


A Dragon's secrect

by Chibimax



Category: Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Cartoon 2018), TMNT - Fandom
Genre: dragon - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-07
Updated: 2020-12-04
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:13:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 17,852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24592834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chibimax/pseuds/Chibimax
Summary: Leo hide a secrect for years from his family. Until one night April finds it out and confronts him with it. Rise version
Comments: 42
Kudos: 218





	1. She knows

Chapter one: She knows

April was walking back home in the night. It was late again and her mom called her where she was. April had told her mom she was with her friends again and she’ll be home soon.  
April had a good time with the turtles today, only she finds it weird that Leo suddenly disappeared without saying anything to anyone else. 

‘He does that sometimes.’ Donny dismissed when she asked him.

April was almost home when she noticed a big shadow passing over her head. ‘What was that?!’ She looked up and sees a dragon passing by. 

“A new mutant?” April wondered, running after the dragon. April runs up the stairs when she sees the dragon landing on the rooftop. She tries quietly to open the rooftop door and sees the dragon standing there. 

“So cool!” she says and grabbed her phone. She takes a good look at the dragon. The dragon had strange yellow markings all over his body except his tail. The tail had some red markings. On the dragon’s face were red markings too. Like a red slider turtle. Looking further she noticed a blue bandana around the neck and a very familiar blue belt around him. ‘Why does that look so familiar?’ She thought, switching from photo to video. 

The dragon looked around as if he was checking if no one was around, before starting to change. April gasped when she saw the dragon turned into someone she knew. “Leo?!” 

Leo jumped down the roof into the ally and into the manhole. 

“Okay, what did I just witness?”  
-  
After school, April immediately started walking towards the turtle lair. She will find out what she saw last night! 

“Hey guys!” she greeted Donny, Raph, and Mikey. She looked around but didn’t see the blue bandana turtle. “Where’s Leo?”

“He’s in his room reading comics.” Mikey said. “Why?”

“Oh, I wanted to ask when he wants to go urban exploring with me again.”

“Awesome! Can I come too?”

“I wanted to go to the Old City Hall Station.” April said, knowing Mikey immediately would pass for another time. 

“Oh…Maybe next time then.”

April smiled and walked to the blue turtle room. When she entered the room, she saw Leo reading his comics as Mikey had told her. 

Leo looked up and smiled at her. “Hey, April.”

“Don’t you ‘Hey April’ me! You’ve got some explaining to do!”

Leo looked confused at her. “Okay, what did I do?”

“Oh, maybe you suddenly left yesterday to change and fly around as a dragon?”

Leo stared at her, before breaking into laughter. “Really, April? Did you spend too much time with Mikey again?” Leo immediately stopped laughing when April pushed her phone in front of Leo.  
The video of a dragon looking around before turning back into himself played. Leo started to look a bit lesser green. 

“Please don’t tell anyone.”  
-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More? 
> 
> Leo's design is based on JazzTheTiger's art


	2. Don’t tell

Leo immediately grabbed April’s legs. “Please don’t tell them! Please, Please!” Leo begged, “I’ll do anything.”

“Anything?” April's heart melted when she saw the look on the blue bandana turtle. “Okay, tell me everything about it. Tonight. And I want a ride on your back.”

Leo nodded rapidly. “Deal.”

“Hey Leo! April!” Leo froze when he heard Mikey’s voice from behind the curtain. “Want to go and play some video games?”

“Sure, Mikey!” Leo said nervously before standing up and walking out of his room. 

‘Leo’s desperate to keep this a secret.’ April thought. April watched Leo play with Mikey as nothing has happened between them. 

-

“What do you wanna know?” Leo and April stood on a rooftop later that day. 

“When?”

“Years ago, even before we met you.”

“You kept this a secret for years?”

“Jah.”

“Why?” April asked. “Why keep it from them?”

Leo closed his eyes and sighed. “I’m afraid they won’t accept me.”

“Are you kidding me?” April yelled smacking Leo on the head. “They will! You’re family! Why wouldn’t they?”

Leo held his head and sighed again. “April…. Sometimes I have problems controlling it. Jah, I’ve got more control now than in the beginning, but still at some certain fights I’ve got knocked down easily because I’m battling my instincts. It screams at me to let it go, to take over. I don’t want to find out if I let it. I’ve got to change every day to keep it in check. Sure, I can skip a day or two. But the longer I wait, the harder it gets to ignore it.”

April placed a hand on Leo’s shoulder. “Then we make sure you won’t lose it.” She said. 

“Thanks, April.” Leo smiled. “So, you still want a ride to the skies?”

“Heck yeah!”

“Hop on them.” Leo changed into his dragon form. April jumped on Leo’s back. “Ready?”

“I was born ready!” Leo grinned and take off. April grabbed Leo’s shield when she felt she was sliding a bit.

April gasped once she saw the view from the sky. “This so awesome!”

“Really? How about this?” Leo started to dive and making a sharp turn to the right and then making some corkscrews. 

April screamed her lungs out. “Loop the Loop! Loop the Loop!” she yelled when Leo stopped making sharp turns and corkscrews. “Yay!” she screamed as Leo did two loop the loop. “That was awesome!”  
Leo laughed and flew around the city while answering April’s questions.

-

“I can’t believe he ditch us! Again!” Raph yelled angrily. 

“Well, it is Leo we’re talking about.” Donny tab away on his phone. 

“Yeah, but he’s ditching us for weeks now!” Raph said frustrated. “Just he wait till I’m back home! He won’t hear the end of how this mission was cool and he wasn’t there!”  
“Looking for a rumor new mutant that roams the city is cool?” Donny asked.

“Not just any rumor mutant!” Mikey beamed. “A dragon!”

“Who is causing chaos in the city!” Raph looked at his brothers. “Now let’s get going!”

“Fine.”

“Yess!”

They jumped over to the rooftops while looking for the dragon. “Donny found anything yet?”

“Well, according to my data it is a…. No.” Donny said.

“It can be anywhere in a city like this!” Just when Mikey said that the dragon they look for past over their heads. “There it is!”

“Get it!” Raph yelled.

Leo looked down when he heard some yelling behind him. ‘Oh great! They spotted me. Woah!’

Leo rolled when one of Donny’s rockets past by him. ‘Too close.’ He thought. ‘Better get the hell outa here.’ Leo dived in one of the alleyways and used them to get rid of his brothers.  
Suddenly, Mikey landed on Leo’s back. With a stick he found somewhere he tried to shove it in Leo’s mouth and steer him towards the ground. On the ground, Donny shot a net towards them.  
Leo saw what was coming and kicked Mikey off his back into the net and crashing into his twin brother.

‘Two down, one to go.’ Leo thought. Leo landed on a rooftop. ‘Come on, where are you?’ Raph jumped right in front of him. “Let’s dance!” 

Raph ran towards Leo. When Raph was close enough, Leo threw him down on the ground and launched himself into the sky. “Get back here!” Raph yelled after Leo. 

-

The next day, Leo walked into the kitchen. “Morning,” he muttered to his brothers.

“Leo! You never guess what we’ve fought last night.”

“A worm with hair that looks like the king of rock from the sixties?”

“The dragon!” Mikey beamed. “We fought the dragon!”

“Mikey, dragons aren’t real.”

“It was real, Leo! It threw me and Donny into a net and used Raph as a launchpad!”

Leo gave Mikey the ‘are you really serious?’ look. “It’s true, Leo! Donny! Let him see the video.”

‘What?! When did they film me?!’ Leo thought as he watched Donny take out his tablet and play the video. 

Leo stared at the video and said nothing. Raph grinned and grabbed his brothers together. “Boy, we’re going to hunt some dragon tonight!”

-


	3. The Hunt

“Any sign of it yet?” Raph asked for the tenth time, jumping onto another roof. They have been looking for the dragon for two hours. 

“For the last time, NO!” Donny said annoyed. 

“Why are we even looking for this dragon in the first place?” Leo leaned on his sword as he looked at his brothers and April. “I mean, it isn’t like it did something to be hunted, right?”

“Didn’t do anything?!” Raph said disbelieved. “It is causing trouble in the city!”

“By just flying around?” 

“By flying around in a city full of humans!”

“At night. When they're asleep!” Leo expressed. ‘Just leave me alone, Raph.’ 

Raph huffed. “You weren’t there when it attacked.”

“I’d thought you attacked it.” Raph looked at the blue bandana turtle before he even could ask Leo to answer. “Mikey told me what happened.”

Raph huffed again. “The reason why I want to catch it is, just to see if it’s a yokai or one of Draxum’s mutants,” Donny said. “I can’t recall he had any mutants like that in his lab.”  
“Well, I just want to touch it!” Mikey bubbly said. “It’s soo cool! A live dragon and you said they didn’t exist!”

“Again, that’s why I want to do some test on it. But you disagree with us.” Donny said when he saw Leo’s face. 

“I’d say leave it be. As long it doesn’t attack any humans, why try and catch it?” 

“I’d agree with Leo.” April spoke for the first time in the conversation. “if It didn’t do anything than just fly around, why catch it? But as Mikey said, It would be cool to see it from up close.”  
Donny looked at his brother and human friend. ‘Why are they backing up each other?’

“Alright guys, let’s split up!” Raph said in his leader's voice. “Mikey, with me. Donny and April will go together and take the east side of the city. And as for you, Leonardo, you’re going to the south.”

Everyone nodded before spreading out. Leo sighed as he was left alone on the rooftop. “So much for the plan make them leave me alone.” 

Leo looked up and grinned. “If Raph wants a dragon, he gets one.”

-

“So, what is the real reason you want the dragon to roam around the city?” 

April stared at the purple bandana turtle. “What?”

Donnie looked back. “You’ve heard me.”

Before April even could come up with an answer, she saw the dragon flying past them, winking at her. ‘What the hell are you doing, Leo?!’

“Ah! The dragon!” Donny yelled. He grabbed his bo and shot after Leo. 

‘Woah! Too close!’ Leo thought as the shot missed him a few inches. ‘Better get away from Don.’ 

Leo smiled when he saw his orange bandana brother gasping and pointing at him. Leo showed some off some of his moves before landing on the edge of the rooftop, just to taunted Raph, before taking off. 

Leo played the whole evening the cat and mouse game with his brothers and April. 

-

Leo giggled while watching his oldest brother throw a fit of him getting away again. ‘Better change back now and regroup with them.’ 

A few rooftops behind Leo, members of the foot watched Leo leave. “So this is the mutant she wanted to get.”


	4. Sharing notes

z

Chapter four: Sharing notes

Donnie stared at his laptop. It has been two weeks since they started hunting for the dragon. Two weeks and they still didn’t catch it or know the location of it.

“How’s the research coming, Donnie?” Raph asked as he walked into the kitchen. 

Donnie sighed. “I didn’t make much progress as I wanted to. It is like it knew when we’re there and how to avoid our attacks. As if it can read our minds, which totally can’t as there is no such mutant who can.”

“So, you also said about dragons.” Mikey walked in and looked at his brothers. 

“Hey I’m just a turtle. I make sometimes mistakes.” 

“Yeah, but are you sure you’re not making one right now.”

“There is no such thing as mind-reading, Michael!”

“Alright, enough you two. There has to be something we missed.” Raph said thoughtfully. 

Donnie stared back at the screen on the laptop. “Here are the spots where we encountered it,” Donny said pointing on the map. “Maybe by marking where we encountered it, we could pinpoint where it lives. Did any of you had an encounter when you were alone?”

“I saw it two weeks ago.” Mikey suddenly said after a long time of silence. 

“And you forgot to mention how, Michael?” 

\--

Two weeks earlier,

Mikey was humming a song to himself. He was walking in the sewers back to the lair from an evening chilling at April’s house. “Wow, it must be raining hard now,” Mikey said as he passed a huge sewer room with a whirlpool beneath him. 

Mikey turned around the corner and took out his phone. ‘Raph again.’ He thought, seeing his oldest brother has texted him again to know where he was. ‘I’m almost home.’ Mikey texted back. 

Mikey kept texting and didn’t see he walked into someone. Mikey looked up and gasped. Right in front of him was the dragon! “Aah!” Mikey screamed, moving backward from the dragon. “Please don’t eat me!” 

The dragon looked hurt and reached his paw out towards Mikey. Mikey kept moving back until he slipped off the edge of the huge sewer room. 

“Mikey!” a voice yelled when Mikey started to fall into a whirlpool. 

Mikey screamed as he fell, then he landed on something hard. A Shell? Mikey looked up and saw he was on the back of the dragon! 

The dragon laid down once they flew back on the edge of the whirlpool room. Mikey hopped off the dragon and stared at him. “Thanks,” Mikey said. It nodded before it spread his wings and took off into one of the sewers pipes. 

\--

“And that’s what happened.” Mikey said when he was done telling his story. 

Raph and Donnie stared at their youngest brother. “And you didn’t bother to tell us why?” Raphael asked with him overprotective brother's voice. 

“And how does it know your name?” Donnie asked. 

“I don’t know.” Mikey shrugged. “Maybe it learned our names when we yell at each other.”

“Hmmm.” Donnie said thoughtful. 

“Is there a chance it lives in the sewers?” Raph suddenly asked. 

“There is a small chance, yes. Why?”

“I might have found it in the sewers too a week ago.”

A week earlier,

“I knew I shouldn’t have taken the left!” Raphael muttered as he walked in the sewers alone. “Where am I? Okay, stay calm, Raph. No need to go feral.”

Raph kept walking until he stopped middle in his tracks. He had entered an empty room with sunlight. Right before him, he faced the back of the dragon they have been hunting for a week now. 

‘Oh shit!’ Raph thought and froze on spot. Raph watched the dragon in silence. The dragon just made a relaxing sound before stretching himself some more out. ‘What is it doing?’ Raph asked himself. Raph stared and noticed it was laying on his belly, his wings wideout and its legs stretched out. ‘Is it sunbathing?’

“Maybe the time is right now to attack it.” Raph muttered to himself. 

Leonardo made another satisfying growl. Suddenly, someone jumped on Leo’s shell, grabbing his mouth shut and pulling his head backward. Leo tried to break free from the grasp, but he couldn’t get loose easily. Leo started to stand up and move around wildly, trying to get Raph of him. 

“Yiha!” Raph said as Leo jumped up and down. ‘Get off me, Raph!’ Leo growled and pushed Raph against the wall. “Woah.” Raph started to lose his grip a bit before suddenly Leo threw Raph with the full force of his back and on to the ground. 

“Ugh.” Raph was startled when he saw the dragon staring right in his eyes. The dragon turned around and ran into a dark tunnel. A familiar giggle was heard in the tunnels.

\--

Raphael looked at his brothers when he was done telling his story of the dragon. “Looks like we can confirm it is very possible that it might live in the sewers,” Donnie said to his brothers. “As I did encounter it a well.”

“When?” Both Mikey and Raph asked. 

“A week ago,”

\--

A week ago, 

Donnie walked back with two bags in his hands. He just came back from the junkyard with some new or better said old hard drive stuff for one of his projects. Donnie was thinking about his project until he was pushed onto the ground. 

Looking up from the ground, he saw the dragon grinning at him. “Are you insane?!” Donnie started yelling. “This is very sensitive hardware I’ve got with me!”

The dragon just grinned and stood there challenging him. “Just you wait! I’ll whip the grin off your face once my project is done!” 

The dragon kept grinning and walked away as Donnie grabbed his stuff and kept yelling at the dragon. 

\--

“Hey Leo, did you encounter the dragon in the sewers?” Mikey asked as the blue turtle walked into the room.

“No, I didn’t.” Leo said, taking a sip of his tea.

Donnie raised a brow when he heard this. Leo hangs most of the time in the sewers and didn’t even once encounter the dragon in the sewers?

“Well, if it does live in the sewers, we can look for it in the sewers as well.” Raph said to his brothers.

\--

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> enjoy the first longer chapter than normal! Please R&R people!


	5. Telling a story

Chapter five: Telling a story

Few hours crawled slowly over the night and Leo still hasn’t fallen asleep yet. Normally, he would blame his insomnia for another sleepless night, but this time it was his dragon instinct begging him to go out and change. 

Ever since his brothers found out that he tends to hang out in the sewers during the daytime, they started to patrol the sewers as well. Forcing him to skip a few days to change into his dragon form. Those days are the hardest as his instinct starts to come out and show even when he is in his normal form. 

Leo slapped his hand in his face as the feeling to change kept nagging him. “Just for an hour.” He mumbled to himself. 

Leo stood up and pulled his curtain away. He listened quietly for any sound of his brothers. Besides Raph’s loud snoring, he didn’t hear anything. 

Leo sneaked quietly out of the lair into the sewers. Leo made sure he was a bit further away from the lair until he changed into his dragon form. ‘Okay, this feels good.’ Leo thought as he made satisfying noises while stretching out. 

So the rumors are true.” A voice said behind Leo. Leo immediately stopped stretching and turned around. 

Right behind him was his dad, Splinter. “The dragon does live in the sewers.” Splinters said, moving into a fighting position. 

‘Dad!’ Leo thought and started looking for an escape route. “Don’t even think about escaping.” Splinter warned as if he could read Leo’s mind. “Now, let’s begin.” With that, Splinter jumped into the air, attacking Leo from above. 

Leo avoid the attack and kept avoiding the punches his dad threw him. “You know, you remind me of my son, Blue.” Splinter said as he kept attacking. “He has almost the same markings and wears a blue bandana around his face, not his neck. Same goes for the blue slash with pouches.” 

‘Oh crap! He’s on to me!” Leo growled when a punch landed in his face. Splinter smirked. “Did I distract you with something?”

Splinter threw the other punch, but his hand was caught with a green red and yellow marked tail. Leo gave Splinter a toothy grin before throwing the rat further back in the sewers. Splinter landed on his paws and looked up. He saw Leo slightly bend on his front paws, ready to attack. 

Splinter smiled. “Let’s dance.” Splinter let out a war cry, storming towards the dragon. Leo roared before attacking too. 

Leo tried hitting Splinter with his tail again but was failing as Splinter jumped away and threw some ropes towards Leo. 

It was Leo’s turned to jump away. Attack his dad again, Leo still was looking to escape. After a while, Leo was standing in a web of ropes. Splinter pulled on one of them and the ropes moved quickly towards Leo, trapping him down on the ground.  
Leo growled and tried to get free, biting the ropes. Splinter threw another rope, muzzling Leo and being completely trapped to the ground. 

Leo sighed that came out as a long growl, but stopped as soon he saw his father right before him. 

“You made it too easy for me.” Splinter said. “One of the first lessons I taught you was never get distracted by the enemy, Leonardo.” Splinter's heart melted when he saw the fear in his son's eyes. He immediately cut the muzzle. 

“D-Dad…I’m sorry.” Leo said with a scratchy voice. “I know I should have told you guys, but it all happened so fast…I wanted to tell you, but….” Tears started to flow down Leo’s face. “thinking of what you guys will do when you find out or even disowning me…”

Splinter grabbed his son into a tight hug. “I never will disown you. I will love you in either form, turtle, or dragon because you are my son. I’m only disappointed you never told me.” Splinter said as he untied the ropes with his tail.  
Releasing his son from the hug and looking up as Leonardo went sitting straight up, Splinter whipped the last few tears off his son’s face. “Let’s go back home.”

“I can’t.” Splinter raised an eyebrow. “I need to let is loose for a while. Otherwise, I can’t keep it contained.”

Splinter nodded. “Fine. Do what you need to do, but be back in an hour. We’ll discuss this tomorrow when your brother is gone.”

Leo nodded and quickly flew away from his father. Splinter sighed before returning to the lair. 

After an hour and a half Splinter walked to Leo’s room. He smiled when he saw his blue bandana son was back in bed, in turtle form, fast asleep. Splinter walked into Leo’s room and draped the covers over Leo, before planting a small kiss on his head. “Goodnight, my son.”

\--

The next morning everything was everything normal. Or at least almost everything. When Splinters is around Leo, he acts a bit weird. Besides April, who immediately noticed this, no one reacted to it. 

“He knows.” Leo had whispered to her when he had the chance. 

“When did he find out?” April asked in a hushed voice. 

“Last night, he wants to talk about it when the others are gone.”

\--

“So who’s ready for tonight’s WWE’s tournament?!” Raph said pumped. 

“Yay!” Mike said happily. “You coming too, Leo?”

“Blue still has to do the task he hasn’t done yet.” Splinter answered before even Leo could answer. Leo knew it was a lie as the only thing he has to do is sort the dirty clothes and put in the washer.  
“I’d told you should go and do the laundry,” Donnie said to his blue brother.

“And let you destroy my high score on ninja revolution 3? Never!”

“Let’s go guys.” Raph said, walking towards the exit of the lair. 

“Have fun with the laundry, Leo! Bye April, see you tomorrow.” Mikey waved before following Donnie and Raph. 

“Have fun, you guys!” April waved. 

Leo watched his brother go before going to the laundry room and sort the clothes out. “So, how did Splinter find out?” 

“He followed me into the sewers, fought me, tied me up before telling he knew.”

“Wait, your dad kicked your dragon ass?” April grinned at her best friend. 

Leo shoved April as she started laughing. “I wasn’t focused! Besides I didn’t want to hurt him!”

“Whatever you say, Leon.” 

\--

Entering the kitchen, April and Leo saw Splinter with three cups of tea standing ready. The rat motioned to sit down. “Now,” Splinter said when the teens sat down. “Tell me everything.”

Leo took a deep breath. “I was around eight when my first transformation happened. I was not feeling well and I didn’t want to wake you guys up. So, I ran into the sewers and that’s when I changed. I was freaking out and I didn’t know how to control it or what just happened to me. I wanted to tell you after I was sure I could control it. But as time goes on, I wasn’t sure if you would believe me. If you still would accept me for what I am.”

Leo wrapped his hands around the cup of tea, not facing anyone. “As the years passed, I didn’t dare to tell you anymore. So I kept it a secret from everyone until April found out about it a month a half ago.”

April nodded in agreement. Splinter sat quietly, thinking about the new information he was told. “I have to change every day just to keep my dragon side contained. Which is getting harder ever since the others started hunting me.”

“What was the longest time you didn’t change?” April asked. 

“Three days was the longest.” Leo answered. 

Splinter took a sip from his tea before speaking. “I understand why you kept this as a secret and why you still don’t want to tell your brothers. But know this, I will never disown you for what you are, Leonardo. The same goes for your brothers. I know you can smell my fear right now, it will fade over time. And they will need time when they will find out.”

Leo nodded. He smelled his dad’s fear since he got up this morning. It wasn’t that bad, but worse than when April learned what he was. “You’re not going to tell them?” Leo asked. 

“No.” Splinter replied. “They either will have to find out on their own or when you’re ready to tell them.”

Leo nodded, silently thanking his dad for not forcing him to tell his brothers. “How did you find out?”

“I started to observe you when you said you never encounter the dragon in the sewers. Then I noticed the growling, the predator walking, and then disappearing for no reason. And I’d saw Purple’s notes. Your name was written a few times on it.” Splinter explained. “Now that your brothers are gone, I’d suggest you change and have some fun. But avoid the south part of the city.”

“Yes! Let’s go, Leo!” April said excitedly. “I’ve got a new saddle I want to try out.”

“Another one? You call a backpack with stuffing a saddle?” Leo asked as he pulled his leg and arm gloves off. 

“Hey, it’s better than the horse saddle.”

Splinter chuckled, but stopped and stared as Leo started to change into his dragon form in front of him for the first time. Leo didn’t look at his dad as the fear smell hit his nose hard. ‘Give it time, it will go away.’ Leo thought as he let April place the backpack on him. 

April jumped on him and tested the saddle out. “Perfect! Giddy up, Dragon.” Leo gave April a look before walking out of the lair.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Loved the mikey and splinter episode! I just wonder If we would get a more like these with the other turtles in the future.  
> Also, please tell your thoughts about the story.


	6. The Foot

Chapter six: The Foot

Two weeks have past and the turtles still were playing a cat and mouse game with the dragon. Donatello stared frustrated at the computer screen before him. He had a file on it with the info about the dragon. On the file was everything. Guessed height, skin color, where it appears. What Donnie doesn’t have was a good picture of the dragon. It always managed to avoid Donnie’s camera. 

Donnie opened another file on his second screen. Leonardo. Ever since he noticed Leo was acting strange, Donnie started to take notes of his brother's behavior. 

The more Donnie started to watch Leo, the more he noticed things. Donnie sighed. He had a feeling Leo and the Dragon have a connection between them. Donnie had some theories, but he wanted to keep them to himself for now. He needed more evidence before he confronts his younger brother. 

Donnie placed his hands on the keyboard and started typing. ‘Third day, getting more anxious and jumpy for no reason. Stays more in his room and starts avoiding us. Stares at the clock as if he needs to be somewhere. Father still waves Leonardo’s behavior off. Wonder if he will let Leo go on the mission tonight or use another lame excuse to keep him home.’

“Donnie! It’s time! Let’s go!” 

Donnie saved the file and closed his computer before coming down the main room. “What’s the point of hunting it? We never will catch it.” Donnie heard his blue banana brother saying. ‘There we go again. Leo will get benched and don’t join another mission.’  
“We will! If everyone works together!” Raph argued with Leo again. Donnie sighed and took his phone out as it will take a while before their done. 

“And what do you mean by that?!” Leo growled. 

‘Growling? That new.’ Donnie looked up from his phone. ‘Another thing to add to today’s list. Wait, are those claws and fangs?’

“Fine than stay home!”

“I will.” 

“Let’s go guys.” Raph said, walking to the door. Donnie put his phone away and watch out of the corner of his eye, his second youngest brother. 

\--

While his brothers left the lair, Leo battled his instincts for control. “You okay?” April asked when she sees the blue turtle hands shaking. “I’m fine,” Leo said with a growling voice even when he felt his tail growing slowly. 

“Clearly you’re not.” April said as she watched Leo’s eyes shift into his dragon eyes and his tail sweeping over the ground.

“You should go now that your brothers are gone.” Splinter worried as he watched his son struggling to stay in control. 

Leo immediately started to walk towards the exit of the lair as soon he had his dad’s blessing. His instinct was screaming louder and louder at him while he was climbing the ladder to the surface. April had a hard time keeping up with Leo as he was already on the rooftop when she only just reached the surface. ‘Someone anxious.’ She thought. 

Leo pulled his gloves out as fast he could before changing into a dragon. “Feeling better now?” April asked when Leo was done. 

“Much better.” Leo said stress relieved. “But a flight around the city would help even more.”

April smiled and placed the backpack on Leo’s back before jumping on. Leo takes off and flies around the city. While flying around Leo started to relax some more. April wasn’t talking too much either and just enjoyed the view.

Leo was making a turn when he suddenly let out a cry of pain. April jumped off immediately when they landed on the roof. “What the?” she said when she saw an arrow sticking in her friend's wing. 

Leo growled in pain again when April managed to pull it out. “Thanks.” Leo cursed when he and April got surrounded by the foot clan. They all stared at them as if they are waiting for something. “Get on,” Leo whispered to April. 

“Why? We can take them!”

Leo threw April on his back and took off just in time as the foot attack him a second later. “Come on we could have taken them!” April yelled, hitting Leo on the head with her hand. April jumped when another arrow passed by her face.  
“Too many!” Leo said. “You need to get back to the lair.”

“The lair?!” April said in disbelieve. “I’m NOT leaving you alone here, Leo!”

“April listen, I’m going to lead them to my brothers. They can help to defeat them, but they will figure it out when they see you on my back.” Leo explained, landing on one of the rooftops. April hesitated, before jumping off. “Fine, but don’t get caught or I’ll be kicking your stupid ass.”

Leo gave her his trademark smile. “I won’t.”

April sighed and watch Leo take off with the foot clan following in persuade. Leo tries to fly as fast he could with his injured wing. “Come on, guys…Where are you?” Leo said to himself. 

Leo immediately dived and hit Donnie on the head with his paw to get his attention. “Hey!” Donnie looked up angry. ‘The dragon!’ Donnie stared at the dragon while it circled around him very close. The dragon looked at him with pleading eyes for some reason. ‘April’s stuffed backpack?’ Donnie thought when he noticed the bag on the dragon. Donnie stared in disbelieve when he finally put two and two together. “Leonardo?”

Donnie watched Leo take off with the foot clan after him. “The foot!”

“Raph! The dragon! It’s here!” Mikey screams at their eldest when he spotted the dragon flying away. “Come, Donnie!”

Raph ran past Donnie after the dragon. “What’s going on, Nardo?”Donnie followed his brothers. “The foot is chasing it!” Donnie said. 

“But why?” Mikey asked. 

“Don’t ask me.”

“Let’s ask them!” Raph said as they ran after the foot.

\--

Leo groaned as he crashes in a small park. The bola finally got aimed right. It got around his wings, causing the crash landing. Leo tried to get the bola off his wing quick as possible, but the sleeping darts and arrows started to fly around him.  
Growling angrily at the foot that was surrounding him. One of the foot attacked him with a sword but stumbled back when he felt his clothes being cut. Looking up he saw a sharp blade on the end of Leo’s tail. The foot narrowed his eyes and attacked Leo again, this time with the whole group. 

\--

Behind a hill, the turtles looked down at the battle between the foot and the dragon. “We need to help him,” Raph said, looking down at the dragon. “It may be a pain in the ass for months now, but it doesn’t mean it deserves this.” 

Everyone nodded and jumped down attacking the foot. Leo roared as a few sleeping darts hit him some more. Leo hit the shooters away with his tail and growled at the remaining foot only to be followed by a screaming pain. One of the foot members had shot him with a grabbing hook, sending electricity through his whole body. Leo kept screaming until he passed out from the pain. 

“Tie it up and get ready to portal it.” One of the foot said to the others. 

\--

Donnie shot one of the foot away, looking up where his second youngest brother was fighting. ‘Leo!’ Donnie thought when he saw the foot take down Leo with the electric grapple hook. 

Donnie fought his way to Leo but was too late. Leo was hauled into the portal before Donnie even could get there. 

“Ninja Vanish!” a thick American accent said and every member of the foot clan retreated in a minute.

Raph and Mikey looked around. “Where did they go?” Raph asked. “Where did the dragon go?” 

“They took him.” Donnie said in defeat. “We need to get him back.”

“Wait, the foot capture the dragon?” Mikey asked confused. “Why would they need the dragon for, Donnie?”

“How I’d supposed to know?! For battles in Battle Nexus maybe? What I do know is that we need to get him back!”

“Since when are you so worried about the dragon?”

“Since I’ve discovered that the dragon is one of our own!” Mikey and Raph just stared dumbfounded at their Purple bandana brother. “It’s Leo! The dragon is Leonardo!” Donnie said frustrated. 

Mikey and Raph started laughing loudly a second later. “Good one, Donnie!” Mikey laughed. “Leo a dragon!”

Donnie stared annoyed at them. “Wait, you’re serious?” Raph whipped a tear away. 

“I’m always serious.”

“Come on, let’s go home and tell what happened to the REAL Leonardo who’s at the lair.” Raph and Mikey still laughed as they walk away from an annoyed Donnie. 

\--


	7. Save him

Chapter 7 : Save him

“For the last time, I am telling the truth!” Donnie said frustrated. For the last fifteen minutes Donnie has been trying to convince his brothers to go back and save the dragon. 

“Says you, but do you have any proof?” Mikey said as they have been laughing the whole way back to the lair with Donnie’s nonsense. 

Donnie opened his mouth, but closed it at again. He didn’t have any. Only his theories. And knowing his brothers they won’t convince them unless he has some hard proof. 

Mikey laughed again when they entered the lair. “Orange! Quite down! I cannot hear what April is telling me!” Splinter scolded. “Why are you even being so loud?”

“Donnie is trying to convince us that the dragon is Leo. Which totally can’t as he’s here and the foot clan has captured the dragon.” Raph told April and Splinter. Splinter and April looked worried at each other, like they know more than they are willing to tell. “You need to find the dragon and save it.”

“What? Why?” Mikey looked confused at his father. “Why is everyone so worried about the dragon? 

Donnie face palmed. “Because the dragon is Leonardo!”

“Donnie, you really need to lay off the coffee.” Raph said to his second oldest brother, only to get a frustrated groan and throwing hands in the air as responds. 

April look with doubting eyes to Splinter. Splinter knew what she was asking him and nodded. If it’s the only way to convince the others, then they have to break the promise they made. April grabbed her phone. “Is this prove enough?” she asked, holding her phone out to the three turtles. 

“Ha! I knew it! I knew Leo was the dragon!” Donnie grinned when he saw Leo changing back into a dragon on the phone. The others stared at the screen, watching the replays. “Leo is the dragon…” Raph mumbled to himself. “WE GOT SAVE HIM!”

\--

The turtles jumped down a abandon build’s roof. “You sure it’s here, Donnie?” Raph asked, staring down at the abandon building across. 

“If the noise and the goons patrolling isn’t enough proof for you, then yes I’m sure. Leo’s phone location is in the building across.” Donnie tabbed on his wrist band. 

Raph nodded. “Let’s go.” 

“Woah!” Mikey said as they entered the not so abandon building. The building was full of Foot members and equipment. Everyone’s eyes turned to the roaring sound in the middle of the room. In the middle of the room, there was the dragon in steel cage, banging his head and tail against the cage and getting response by getting electrocuted by some foot members. 

“Leo.” Mikey said with a soft voice. “Is it me or is he more…”

“Feral?” Raph finished his youngest brother sentence. 

“He is.” Splinter said as he studied his son. “We need to be careful once we’re close to him.”

“Agreed.” Donnie said while tapping on his wristband. “We do not know what he will do in this state.”

“Alright guys, let’s split up!” Raph spoke in his leader voice. “Pops and April free Leo, while we distract the foot.”

Everyone nodded and split up. “Hey Lieutenant stink foot! Let the dragon go!” demanded Raph, while standing in battle position. “Why do you even need him?”

“I can ask you kids the same.” Lieutenant said, not even surprised to see the turtles. “You have been hunting it for a month’s now and still fail to catch it. Besides we needed some money and a customer payed us up front. Now attack!”

Raph changed his grip on his tofu’s as the foot members attacked him and his brothers. While the brothers distracted the Foot, April and Splinter sneaked closely to the cage. They took down the guards easily. 

‘Blue...’ Splinter looked worried as he stood as look out while April tried to unlock the cage. Leo growled as he kept banging against the cage until the cage disappeared into the ground. Leo immediately grabbed the foot member that came running towards them with his mouth, biting down and shaking it before throwing it as a rag doll away. 

Leo looked for to his next victim. April. Growling dangerously and showing his fangs at her, Leo walked slowly towards her. April moved backwards, tripping over a tick wire cored, until she was against the wall. “Leonardo! No!” Splinter yelled, jumping between the dragon and the female teen. Splinter held his arms out as blockage even when he knew his son easily could over power him. 

Leo stared at them, fangs still showing and growling, before turning his attention towards the attacking foot members. Leo tried to fly away, but couldn’t as his wings were injured. Leo attacked them instead.   
Splinter sighed in relief, before turning to the teen. “April, are you al-“ Splinter bent down in front of April and placed a hand on her shoulder. “April?”

April was staring before her shaking like a leaf. She never been afraid of him like now. “It’s okay.” Splinter grabbed her into a hug, stroking her hair. “It’s okay, you’re safe now.”

\--

The foot Brute cursed as he tried to keep up making origami foot soldiers, only to be sliced by the turtles. Mikey kicked another paper foot soldier into smithereens. Mikey grinned, until he bumped into someone. Turning around he saw Leo up from close by. Leo stared back at him, but not with the lighthearted eyes Mikey’s used to. 

“L-Leo?” Mikey stuttered. Leo growled at Mikey, leaning a bit closer to him, Leo sniffed at Mikey. Mikey gasped when Leo launched himself, mouth wide open, towards him. Mikey stared in fear at his brother shoulder. He thought Leo was going to bite him! Leo pulled back, revealing a origami foot soldier or what’s left of it. Leo looked at him with the now turning to ashes foot soldier, before turning back to the fight. 

Mikey stood there for a second, thinking what just happened. “Jgaah!” a voice scream from the left. Mikey didn’t react fast enough to avoid a kick to the face from the Foot member and crashed head first against the concrete wall. Mikey slides down against the wall unconscious. 

The foot grinned behind his mask, but immediately screamed in pain when Leo bite down in his shoulder throwing him against some other foot members. The Foot members crawled back up surrounding Leo and Mikey. 

Leo moved over to Mikey, fangs showing and growling angry at the closing in foot members. A brave foot member attack first with his katana, charging towards the dragon, only to be cut by the bladed tail. 

More foot members attacked Leo and every one of them met the same fate as the others. Either being slashed by his tail, throwing away like rag dolls or slashed by his claws. From the corner of his eye, he saw someone reaching for Mikey. Leo immediately turned towards the intruder, grabbing him by the shoulders and digging his claws deep into the persons flesh. “Leo!” said the person right before Leo wanted to bite down.

Leo looked confused. He knows that voice! Looking better at intruder he saw a red bandana with familiar eyes. Sniffing the scent up from the intruder, it was familiar as well. It even had some scents from the orange one on him too.

Trusting the familiar scent, Leo released the intruder and pushed him towards the wounded orange one. 

Raph rubbed his shoulders confused, but was grateful Leo didn’t bite his head off as intended. Raph kneeled next the youngest turtle. “Mikey?” Raph gently shook Mikey’s shoulder, watching Leo defending them as a angry mother protecting her young. “Wake up.” 

“Raph!” Donnie landed next to him with April and his dad. “What happened?”

“I don’t know.”Raph said, watching Leo attack the foot. “I’d saw Mikey on the ground and-“

“Leo’s protecting Mikey.” Donnie finished. “We need to get him out of here.”

A roaring pain was suddenly heard. Looking up the turtles saw the Foot firing grabbling hooks towards Leo and running electricity through them, while firing tranquilizing darts. Leo grabbed the hook that was on his plastron and pulled it out while wincing.   
“Take it down!” someone yelled. 

Leo pulled on one of the cables, sending the person other end towards him. He bites in the weapon, crushing it with his jaws before throwing it away. Roaring through the whole building, Leo unleased a sea of fire around the whole building.   
The foot scream and ran away out of fear. “We need to go, now!” Splinter said looking away from the raging dragon. 

“But, Leo….” Mikey said worried. Splinter didn’t answer and pushed the others out of the building. They all watched the building burn. “Leo!” they screamed once the roof collapsed. Out of the fire and smoke, a dragon figure flew up in the sky, before crashing into the ground. Splinter held his arm out before anyone could run towards him. 

Leo pushed himself up in sitting position, panting for air. He growled and showed his fangs towards his family, ready for a fight even when he had trouble with staying awake or even moving. 

Splinter walked towards Leo, reserving threating growls from the dragon. It didn’t stop Splinter from coming towards him. “It’s okay, my son.” Splinter placed a hand on Leo’s muzzle. Leo panting for air slowed down as he started to calm down by the touch. “Stop fighting it. Go to sleep, Leonardo.” 

“Dad?” Leo whispered before falling forward into Splinter. Splinter grabbed Leo and placed him gently down on the ground, stroking his head as the others joined them. “Let’s go home.” 

“I’ll carry him.” Raph bent down, allowing his brothers to place the sleeping dragon on his back. 

“Wait! Let me-“ Donnie grabbed Leo’s bandana and muzzled Leo for safety reasons. All of them walked back to the lair in silence.


	8. sleep and food

A dragon secret

Chapter 8: Sleep and food

“Where are we going to keep him?” Raph asked once they entered the lair. 

“I’d suggest to let him rest in the garage.” Donnie said. “Just in case he’s still feral.”

Everyone nodded. April and Mikey got Leo’s mattress from his room and put it in the garage. Raph put Leo gently down on it. Stepping back, Raph watched Donnie start threating Leo’s wounds. Donnie immediately found some burn marks, cutting wounds and bruises all over his body. ‘Did they torture him? For what?’ Donnie thought. He didn’t say anything yet as April and Mikey are still in the room. 

“Can you bring me some more warm water?” Donnie faced April and Mikey. “I need to clean these wounds out first before stitching them close.” 

“Sure.” April said and took Mikey with her.

When Donnie was sure they were out of ear reach, he turned to Raph. “They tortured him.”

“What?! Why?!” Raph raised his voice. 

“I’m not sure.” Donnie didn’t face the eldest turtle. “I’ve found USB stick, maybe there will be some more information on it.” 

Raph sighed and nodded. “Sorry for not believing you earlier.” 

“I know you wouldn’t believe me.” Donnie bandaged a wound around the front paw. “I needed something more than just theories to back me up.”

“How did you know?” 

“I’m sorry, what?” Donnie looked confused at Raph. 

“How did you know it was Leo?” 

“The stuffed backpack.” Donnie looked over the destroyed backpack. “April brought it today with her. She never really explained why she had it with her.” 

Raph nodded, before noticing Donnie filling up a syringe with blood. “He doesn’t like that, you know.” 

“What he doesn’t know, can’t hurt him.” Donnie knew Leo hated when Donnie tries to take some samples of blood from his brothers. “Besides we need to know what they have done with him.”  
Donnie turned to his big brother when he was finally done with Leo. “You’re next.” He said pointing to the clueless looking Raph. 

“Oh.” Raph said as he noticed his shoulders are still bleeding. 

\---

Leo stirred from his sleep the next day. He yawned, feeling his sharp teeth with his tongue. ‘Why I still in my dragon form?’ Leo thought as he looked around the room. His eyes stopped at a sleeping figure close by. Rapheal. Raph was sleeping in the garage. With him. Being a dragon. 

It took a while before Leo connected two and two together. Leo started to panic. ‘They captured me! I need to get out of here!’ Leo tried to get up and fly up, but groaned in pain as he moved his wings.  
Raph woke up from the noise. “Leo.” He said when he saw his brother awake. Raph hesitated a bit before placing a hand on Leo’s shell, only to have Leo panic some more. 

Leo pulled away from Raph and moved his wings again, tearing the stitches back open. “Leo, stop!” Raph said as his brother growled angry at him, backing away from Leo. 

Donnie stormed in the garage with his phone in his hands. Looking at the scene before him, he saw Raph backing up and Leo growling at him. Donnie immediately guessed what happened and slowly walked to Leo, holding his hand out. “It’s okay, Leon.” Donnie said. “We know, your safe.” 

Leo’s growling started to quiet down when he smelled Donnie’s scent. “How did you?” Donnie grabbed Raph’s arm and held out his hand out to Leo. Leo stopped showing his fangs once he sniffed Raph scent and made approved noise, allowing to come closer towards him. 

Raph stared at the dragon before looking back at the Purple turtle. Donnie gave him a ‘tell you later’ look. Donnie carefully kept a eye on Leo as he over looked the ripped open wounds. “They need to be restitch again.” Donnie said more to himself than his brothers. “I’m going to give him some painkillers first.” 

When Leo saw the syringe, he started to growl at Donnie. “Easy, He’s just trying to help you.” Raph reassured Leo. Leo ignored his eldest brother and kept growling at Donnie, but allowed him to inject painkillers after a while.  
Leo laid his head down as he started to fall asleep when the syringe was emptied. Within a minute he was knocked out again. “Those weren’t painkiller, right?” Raph asked. 

“They were painkillers with some sedative.” Donnie said as he started to stitch the wounds. “I’ve made a syringe with sedative ready when we got him back yesterday. I wasn’t sure if Leo would be acting feral again once he wakes up.”  
Raphs sighed, shaking his head. “How did you know?”

“Know what?”

“When Leo woke up and growling.”

“I made the garage sound proof, not signal proof.” Donnie tabbed on the bracelet Leo was wearing. “It sends me an alarm when he’s awake, his location and his vitals. I wanted to strap it down once we caught him, getting more information about him and his location. This was all before we even knew it was Leonardo.” 

Raph looked back Leo, stroking his head gently. ‘What happened to you, Leo?’ Raph thought only to be pulled out of his thoughts again.  
“I’ve put some camera’s up in the garage and let them stream to one of the monitors in the main room so we can watch him closely. I’d suggest we lock the garage door for now. For both our safety of course.” Donnie said before Raph even could say something. 

Raph opened his mouth to say something, but closed it again with a sigh. His purple brother was right. They should lock up Leo for now after what just happened.

\--

Mikey walked into the garage with a plate of food. He sighed as he found a sleeping dragon in front of him. Two days have passed and all Leo did was sleeping. Donnie told him it was normal for Leo to sleep so much as his wounds needed to heal.  
“Hey Leo.” Mikey greeted even when he knew there won’t be an answer. “Here’s your food. Today it’s smashed potatoes with salmon.” 

Mikey placed it down on the ground next to the water bowl. “Get better soon, Leo. The lair isn’t the same without you.” Mikey said before walking out the garage. 

Leo opened his eyes as he heard the garage door closing. “Mikey.” He said but not loud enough for Mikey to hear. Leo sighed and looked down at the food. His stomach growled once he saw it. ‘Better eat it before it’s cold again.’ Leo ignored his stomach as it begged for more once he was done. ‘Should have stashed some food in here instead of the living room.’ Leo thought, laying down and trying to get some sleep again. 

\--

April sighed as she was debating on going to the lair or not. Ever since they rescued Leo from the Foot, she didn’t visit the turtles. She just couldn’t go to the lair after what happened. The images of Leo wanting to attack her where still too fresh. ‘Maybe tomorrow.’ She thought and grabbed her phone. 

April: Hey guys! 

‘Still no response of Leo.’ She thought once she was greeted by every turtle. 

April: How’s life down there? 

Donnie: Same old.

Mikey: Almost same old. 

April: Is he still sleeping?

Mikey: Yeah, he is. He’s sleeping really long. 

Donnie: What is totally normal! Consider he has been under stress for a month and has been tortured by the foot. 

Mikey: LEO HAS BEEN TORURED?!

Raph: Mikey, we told you already

Donnie: Like two days ago

Mikey: Oh right! I’d forgot

Raph: So, when are you coming over, April? Haven’t seen you for two days. 

April sighed. She wasn’t sure if splinter told them what happened when they freed Leo. 

April: Can’t today. Maybe tomorrow. 

Mikey: Aww April! But we miss you! 

April: Mis you too, guys! I’ll come tomorrow over. 

April sighed and placed phone down. “Guess I’ve got to face my fear tormorrow.”

\--

Hueso smiled when he saw Leo’s brothers walking into his restaurant. “Ah turtles please, take a seat.” 

“No thanks, Huseo. We’re just here to get our order.” Raph said to the bone man. 

“You’re order?” Huseo asked confused. 

“Yeah, 2 pizza’s for Raph.”

“Oh! I don’t recall pepino calling. Normally he would place it under his name.”

Raph sighed. “He didn’t. Leo’s…Not feeling too well at the moment.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. Please tell him I wish him to get better soon.” Huseo said before getting their pizza’s. “Oh, could you take Leo’s order with you as well? I’m sure he’s pretty hungry by now.”

“His order?!” The brothers looked confused at each other. Huseo guided them to the restaurant cold storages. Once opening the door, they see a few half cows hanging. One with Leo’s name on it. 

All brothers started bluntly at the cow meat. “Why would he order that?!” Raph asked. 

Hueso looked at the brothers. “You don’t know?” Huseo asked confused. 

“We’ve recently discovered he’s a dragon.” Donnie explained. “Like two days ago.”

“Hmm, that explains allot.” Hueso said thoughtful. He really needs another conversation with Leo about keeping this dragon side a secret. 

“How did you find out?” Raph curiously. 

“One day, Pepino came in with hunger and even after eating his favorite pizza, he told me he was still hungry. I’ve noticed his eyes and teeth changed while we talked. I’ve told him to hang around for a bit. When the business was closed, I’ve took him aside and asked him some questions.”

Hueso looked at each turtle. “You all know how he is, he avoid the questions with one side jokes. I’ve took him to the cold store and showed him the cows. Most people would be disgusted seeing this. But not Pepino. Oh no. He started drooling and changing even more when he saw it.”

“After he noticed his height changed and tail had came through, he couldn’t do anything but tell me the truth. He told me a short version as he was getting more distracted by the food. I gave him a half a cow for to eat and left him be.” Hueso told them while making a structure to sit down at one of the tables. “I checked on him between my choirs and found him this time fully changed into his dragon form. When he was done, he changed back and thanked me for it.”

“And after that day, he orders this weekly?” Mikey spoke for the first time. 

“Not weekly, monthly.” told Huseo. “Once a month he comes over after opening hours and eat his order in the back of the restaurant.”

“How long did you know this, anyway?” Raph asked.

“I’ve known this for almost a year now. And I assumed he would have told you by now.” 

Raph looked a bit hurt. Leo’s friend knew it longer than them. His own brothers. “Please don’t be mad at, Pepino.” Huseo said as he read the emotions of Mikey and Raph. “I’d tried to convince him, but he’s so insecure when it came to telling you.”

Raph nodded. “Thanks, Hueso.” 

“You’re welcome. I am glad I could help.” 

\--

Splinter looked up when his boys walked in. He stared confused when he saw the cow meat carried by his eldest son. 

“It’s for Leo.” Raph simply said to his father. Splinter nodded when he finally understanding what was going on. “Go and give it to him.” He said to his eldest son. Raph nodded and walked with Donnie towards the garage.  
“He ordered monthly a big piece of cow meat and ate it in the back of the restaurant.” Mikey said to his father. “Hueso told us. He also knew it longer than us.”

Splinter sighed and looked thoughtful, wondering if he failed as father since Leo never came talking to him about his dragon side.

\--

Leo woke up from a familiar smell. Looking up he saw a half of a cow right in front of him. Seeing the cow meat, Leo start drooling out of hunger. 

“Hueso wish you to get better soon.” A voice suddenly said to Leo. Behind the cow his two eldest brothers where watching him. “He asked us to take your monthly order with us, since you might be hungry.” Raph said.  
Leo silently cursed himself. They discovered another secret of him. Suddenly, his stomach growled loudly. Donnie snorted while tabbing away on his phone. “Enjoy your meal.” Raph said before leaving the garage with Donnie.  
Leo watch them leave before staring back at the cow. ‘Don’t do it! Don’t do it!’ Leo thought as he fought his instincts, but lost and launched at the cow, biting down and ripping a big piece of meat off the cow. 

\--

In the main room the other three turtles watched Leo eat the meat. “Someone was hungry.” Mikey said as he watched Leo take another big bite. 

“hmm.” Donnie stared and studied Leo’s behavior. 

Raph said nothing and stared thoughtful at the monitor. ‘Has he always been this hungry?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this is what happens when your muse decides to take a few days off because of the warm weather or get easily distracted by some discord Sever. It takes a bit longer to roll out a chapter. 
> 
> But right now, it’s back to the writing boards! I’ve got some enough idea’s for atleast two chapters. Then I’m not sure what to do. Stop writing and leave a big plot hole open for maybe a new story around dragon Leo. Or continue with the very little of things I have involving the Client. 
> 
> I just want to warn you guys, don’t expect another chapter within 14 days, unless my muse decides differently.


	9. Learning

Chapter 9: Learning 

“Want me to come with you?” Donnie turned around, seeing the eldest turtle following him. “No, I need to go to the medic bay first for some bandages and iodine.” 

“Doesn’t Leo have some in his pouch?”

“He ran out of iodine last week and I’ve used all of his bandages already.” Donnie said, walking towards the garage. “And since the medic bay is in the garage, I just have to pass our pet dragon and get the stuff. Don’t worry, he’s asleep. I’ve checked.”

Donnie opened the garage door and the first thing he saw was the carcass of the cow. picked clean as it could be. While Donnie made some mental notes of it, he walked into the medic bay. He opened a few cabins to grab the stuff he needed, before turning around and walking back into the garage. 

Donnie sighed as he stood before the sleeping dragon. ‘Okay, let’s do this.’ Donnie thought, sitting down on the ground. 

Donnie grabbed Leo’s paw and unwrapped it. Donnie’s eyes wandered to Leo’s claws. ‘They’re really sharp. Sharp enough to injure us badly if he wants to.’ Donnie snorted at the thought. ‘He never would attack us! Would he?’

“Aah!” Donnie screamed when he felt being touched. Looking next to him he saw a long tail hovering next to him. “Leo!” 

Leo grinned and gave Donnie a non-aggressive growl laughter when he yelled his name. Donnie sighs and continue undressing the wounds. Leo stopped grinning once a too familiar smell came from his brother. Fear. Leo was hesitating to address the elephant in the room when Donnie started, “You always been this hungry?”

Leo started at his brother for a second, before answering with a raspy voice. “No.”

“Hn.”

“Never noticed the secret stash of meat in the small fridge?”

“I always assumed it was Raph’s stash. As he’s the one who loves salami.” 

‘Salami’s were the easiest ones to steal from Baxter Stock Boy’s store.’ Leo thought. 

“Are you afraid of me?” Leo asked after an unconfutable silence. 

“Ah, Snort! No, I am not!” 

“Jah, like you are from beachballs!”

“Am not!”

“Are too!”

“Am defiantly not!”

“Defiantly are! I can smell it!”

“What?” Donnie looked up from the almost cleaned wound. “You can smell our fear?”

Leo looked away. He knew he said too much already. Donnie sighed seeing his younger brother won’t give more information free. “I’m willing to allow you to leave the garage. Only if you follow these rules. One don’t leave the lair and two don’t change back! I’m totally not in the mood to stich you up again because of you dumb-dumbness.” Donnie said, secretly hoping to get a snappy answer back. He only received a nod as responds. 

\--

Donnie sat behind his computer in his lab. “So, what’d ya got?” Raph entered the lab together with Mikey and April.

“Dragons are carnivores, they heal faster, they spit fire and they go in feral mode for some reason I still haven’t discovered yet. True facts proven by our own brother.” Donnie said, typing away on his computer. “Still on my testing list are earing, eye sight and flying abilities. Unless someone can help with those answers.”

“If you want answers, you have to ask him yourself.” April said. “You’re not getting anything from me.”

“Donnie, you said Leo’s a carnivore then how come he is still loves eating watermelons and other food?” Mikey asked. 

“We all have some human DNA, Mikey. Leo can eat everything, but he needs to eat mostly meat to stay healthy.”

“Hueso started feeding him cow meat about around a year.” April pointed out. “What did he eat before that?”

“My stash.”

“Stealing meat.”

“Rats.”

Everyone turned to Mikey. “What? We used to have allot of rats around here and there was a time we didn’t see any for years.”

“That’s a possible theory, Michael. Even now, we don’t see them that often around the lair as if they fear something or someone.” Donnie theorized, looking at April if she might know more.

“Don’t look at me. I never questioned his diet.” April defended.

“What I did notice when he is in air quote feral mode, he only recognizes us by smell.” Donnie said changing the subject. 

“So that’s why you held my hand out to him.”

Mikey looked confused at his brothers. What happened when they were with Leo? “He started to get in feral mode when he was panicking.” Donnie explained. 

“He woke up and started to panic when he saw me sleeping.” Raph told the still confused box turtle. 

Mikey nodded before noticing Donnie working on something. “What’s that Donnie.”

“That is a encrypted file found on a encrypted USB, dropped by some clumsily Foot soldier.” Donnie explained, typing away on his keyboard. “It has not yet been unencrypted. But! It’s only a matter of minutes before, I, Donatello Hamato unencrypt it!”

\--

“Hello?” Mikey wandered around the dark. “Anyone there?” 

A growling sound came from behind. “Leo?” Mikey watched his brother transforming into his dragon form and walking towards him on a predator pace. Mikey started to walk backwards when he saw Leo wasn’t himself. “Leo, snap out of it!” Mikey pleaded. “Don’t do this!”

Leo snarled showing his fangs at the box turtle, leaping when Mikey started to run. Being pushed down, Mikey managed to turn around, facing his brother. “Leo…” Mikey cried. The last thing Mikey saw was fangs launching at him.

\--

Mikey screamed loudly as he woke up from the nightmare. Raph and Donnie immediately where by his side. Donnie rubbed Mikey’s shell as Mikey sobbed against his plastron.

“You okay, buddy?” Raph asked worried. Mikey started telling about the nightmare he had.

Raph sighed and grabbed Mikey into a hug. “It’s alright, Mikey. It was just a bad dream. Leo would never do that.”

“Let’s hope not.” Mutter Donnie under his breath, only to receive a not helping look from Raph. 

“What are we going to do when Leo is in feral mode?” Mikey asked more calmly than a few minutes ago. Both older brothers stayed quiet. They never planned further than get Leo back from the foot.   
“We…Don’t have a plan for that yet.” Raph admitted. “But when the day comes he becomes feral again, we will have a solution to stop him.”

After making sure Mikey was calmed down and alright, Raph made his way to the garage. Leo still stayed there even after Donnie told him he could leave. Which Raph was grateful for. Opening the door to the garage, he saw Leo looking at him. “Is Mikey alright?” Leo asked the eldest. 

Raph sighed. “Just a nightmare. Go back to sleep.” Leo watched Raph closing the door and sighed when he heard Raph locking the door as well. ‘Some nightmare then.’ Leo laid his head down on his paws and tried to go back to sleep. 

\--

The next day, April walked into the lair in the late afternoon. “Hey guys!” She greeted the three brothers. “April!” they all greeted her.

“We’ve missed you!” Mikey hugged the teen.

“I’ve missed you two.” April smiled and hugged back. “Where’s Leo? Is he still sleeping?”

“No, he’s still in the garage.” Mikey sighed. 

“Me and Mikey tried to get him out, but he just doesn’t want to come out.” Raph told her. “Maybe you have more luck than us?”

“I’ll see what I can do.” She said, walking towards the garage. April took a deep breath before she opened the door. Opening the door, she sees a wide awake dragon laying on the mattress she and Mikey placed on the ground. “Hey Leo. How are you feeling.”

“I’m fine.”

“Want get outta here and watch some movies with me?” April saw the hesitation on Leo’s face. “Hey, if you don’t want to face them yet, I always can kick them out of the living room for a couple of hours.”

“April, what happened on the day the foot captured me?” Leo suddenly asked. “I don’t remember much. Just a bit of pieces. Everyone is afraid of me when I’m around. My brothers, Dad, even you.”

April stared at him for a second. “Leo, I’m not-“

“Just tell me the truth, April. You know I can smell the fear coming of you.”

April sighed and told him everything what happened. The whole time Leo stared in front of him, processing everything what just was told to him. Guilt started to swallow him more as he kept thinking more about it. 

“Leo, it’s alright.” April said, seeing Leo feeling guilty for attacking his family. “You had no control of yourself.”

“I should have-“

“You’ve never faced this before, Leo!” said April. “I mean, how could you even know? You’ve never had a reason to be like that! Besides, I wouldn’t be here asking you to watch some movies if I was trying conquer my fear do I? Now, get off that dragon butt and move it to the Living room!”

Raph looked up and smiled when he saw Leo appearing out of the garage with April. April made a shooshoo move with her hands when she saw Raph walking towards them. Raph sighed and nodded. 

Splinter looked up when he saw a green / red tail passing by his armchair. Splinter looked to his right, seeing Leo crouching down on the ground, curling his tail and wings around him. “Blue.” Splinter acknowledge the presents of his son, receiving a nod from the dragon. 

April jumped down on one of the bean bags after she handed a small one for Leo to lay his head on. Splinter started the movie for them and sat conferrable in his armchair. Splinter did notice Leo would stay uncharacteristic quite throughout the whole movie. Sure, he talks when April says something to him, but that’s it. 

Later that day, the others joined them but stayed on their side of the room. Everyone kept an eye on Leo or in Donnie’s case studied. 

After a while, Leo started to fall asleep. Everyone looked with interest as Leo slowly started to change back to his normal turtle form. 

When Raph was sure enough Leo was fast asleep, he picked up his brother and carried him to his bedroom. “Sleep tight, little brother.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good news! Muse is back and willing to work! Even throwing allot of idea’s my way. I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please R&R!  
> Ps: bug the hell out of Nick! Rise has to return!


	10. We need to talk

Chapter 10: We need to talk

Leo slowly opened his eyes. Looking around he saw he was in his bedroom. Guessing Raph had put him in bed, Leo sighed. “Well, at least I’m not in my dragon form anymore.” Leo mumbled to himself. He pushed himself up and stretched a bit before looking around for his slash and bandana, but couldn’t find it. 

‘They must have put it somewhere else.’ Leo thought, walking outside his room. Leo stood still for a moment, listing carefully if he hears any of his brothers. He didn’t hear anything except the tv. His dad must be watching some Japanese show again.

Leo walked towards the kitchen. He poured some water in the kettle and put it on the stove, lighting the gas burner with fire. He then started cutting some ginger and lemon for his tea. Suddenly a wave of freshly washed laundry smell hit him. He looked at the countertop on the left and saw his slash, bandana, and his phone laying in a corner with a note. ‘Don’t touch! Leo’s stuff! Phone charging!’ Leo smiled, recognizing Mikey’s handwriting anywhere. 

He grabbed his phone and turned it on. When his tea was ready, Leo sat down on the table, eating some cereal for breakfast. Leo looked up when he heard someone coming into the kitchen. “Good afternoon, Blue.” His dad greeted while walking into the kitchen. 

“Hey, pops,” Leo mumbled with a mouth full.

“How are you feeling today?” Splinter asked as he made his own tea. 

“I’m fine.” 

“Your brothers are out with April.” Splinter told before Leo even asked. Leo nodded and waited for his father to speak again. 

“Leonardo, you know you have to talk with your brothers today.” Splinter said after a sip from his tea. 

“Jah, I know. I’m not getting away with it this time.”

“Give us time. Our fear will disappear soon.” Ensured Splinter. 

“Or increase.”

Splinter looked hurt at his son. “Blue please, give us time. After what happened-“

“Dad, I don’t blame you fearing me after what happened. Why do you think I’ve stayed in the garage? I knew there was a chance I could turn feral again just because of my hunger. The only way I knew to prevent it was sleeping or hoping I could get to my meat stash soon.” Leo interrupted his dad. “I don’t want to be like that again, dad.”

“Why didn’t you tell us you where hungry? We could have helped you.”

“Because I’m ashamed of it, alright?!” Leo looked right into his father’s eyes. “I’m ashamed of the things I have to do just to keep my hunger under control. To keep my instincts under control."

Splinter grabbed his son into a hug. “Don’t be.” He held his son close. “It is a part of you. And now that we know, we can help you with it.” 

Leo hugged his father back. “Now, eat up.” Splinter said, releasing his son and walked towards the door. “Your brothers will be here soon.”

Leo watched his father leave before grabbing his phone and saw his brothers and April texted allot in the group chat. The last message posted was from Mikey, wondering when he would wake up. 

Leo smiled and send an I live Mushi gif from Mulan. His brothers immediately welcomed him to the land of the living. ‘We need to talk, Leo.’ Raph texted him. 

‘After I’ve checked over his wounds!’ Donnie immediately typed after Raph. 

Leo sends a thumbs up and closed his phone, making another tea so he can mentally prepare himself for the talk with his brothers.

\--

It wasn’t long before the others had returned. “Leo?” Raph called out.

“In the kitchen.” 

Leo looked up once his brothers and friend entered the kitchen. Donnie walked straight towards him and started to check over his wounds. Leo watched the rest take place at the table. “So, how are you feeling?” Raph asked, breaking the ice first. 

“I’m fine,” Leo answered. Silence filled the kitchen again. “You wanted to talk?”

“Yeah,” Raph nodded. 

“How and when?” Donnie beat his brothers first. He didn’t look up as he whipped the wound clean on Leo’s shoulder. 

“How it happened, I don’t know. It just did. I was eight when I changed for the first time.” Leo explained, moving his eyes to his tea. 

“So, you’re a dragon for like six years?” Raph asked. Leo nodded, not looking up from his tea.

“Why?” Leo moved is glace towards the youngest turtle. “Why didn’t you tell us?”

Leo sighed, closing his eyes for a moment before opening them again, looking straight into his brother’s eyes. “I wanted to tell you guys. But, I didn’t know how. I wanted to have more control first. But the longer I waited, the lesser courage I had to tell.”

Leo stopped talking for a moment, moving his eyes back to his tea. “As time passed by, I started to doubt if you guys even were going to accept me.”

Mikey gasped and grabbed his brother immediately into a hug, followed by Raph and Donnie. “You’re our brother, Leo,” Raph said to the slider. “Of course, we’ll accept you.” 

April grinned at the hugging turtles, giving Leo an ‘I’ve’ told you’ look. Leo smiled and hugged back. “Okay, end of the hugging party.” Donnie broke up the hug. “We still have some questions.”

Leo nodded and answered the questions of his brothers. Donnie was writing some notes down while Mikey was firing his comic-based questions. Raph would sometimes ask one or two questions but stayed mostly quiet. 

“Have you ever been before feral?” Leo looked up at the science-loving turtle. Has he ever lost his mind to his instincts before? Not really, but there were moments he was close to it. “No,” Leo answered. 

Donnie eyed him, feeling there was more than what Leo was telling. As much Donnie wanted to confront Leo with it, he decided to let it slip. For now. “Okay…. I want to do some tests for the following days.”

Leo nodded. He already predicted Don would say something like that. “Does anyone have some more questions?” Raph asked after a while. None of his brothers answered. “Okay, let’s do our chores than before pops notice.” 

Leo watched everyone leave the kitchen. He was glad the conversation was over. He felt a bit relieved as he finally told his brothers his secret. And yet, he still was worried. Being all together in one room, made him realize the sent of fear can be too much him. Making him want to run out of the room, just to be able to breathe. 

How is he going to go on patrols if he can’t stand the smell already by just being in one room with his brothers? How are they going to cope with their fear? 

“Give them time.” April’s voice brought Leo back from his troubled thoughts. Leo looked at the human. “We all need time to adjust.”

Leo sighed and nodded. 

\--

Leo stared bored in front of his as Donnie rambled, throwing scientific terms into his conversation. 

“So if my suspicions are correct, your auditory perception and visual acuity-“ 

“Get to the point,” Leo whined as he finally had enough of Donnie’s speech. 

“Scoff! As I was saying, I want to test your hearing and eyesight.” Donnie said, handing Leo the headphones. “Raise your hand when you hear the sound.”

Donnie started with the normal frequencies before moving towards the higher ones. He wrote some notes down as Leo was able to hear better than a normal human or mutant turtle. 

Moving towards the eyesight test, Donnie didn’t do the normal one. Instead, he turned the lights off. “What can you see?” Donnie asked once he put his goggles on, switching to night vision. 

“See what?” 

“Eye roll! Don’t play dumb with me, ‘Nardo! I know well enough you can see in the dark.”

“It isn’t completely dark in here, Don. There is still light coming through from the lair and some small lamps are still burning in here.” Leo pointed out. 

“Would just cooperate?!” 

Leo grinned. “You’re standing next to you bust.” 

Donnie nodded and ask where everything was in the room. Leo easily said where everything was before Donnie turned the lights back on. “That’s all for now today. I want to do some test when you’re in you’re dragon form tomorrow.” 

“Fine.” Leo said, gladly walking out of the lab. 

\--

Leo sat in a beanbag, reading one of his comics. His glance shifted again towards the lab. His brothers had another meeting together. It was clear they talked about him as he heard his name being said more than once. Even with Donnie’s music trying to block his hearing, he could pick up the conversation if he focused hard enough. Ever since he let the purple turtle do some tests on him, the scent of fear increased as he predicted while they learned more about his abilities. 

Some abilities Leo even not knew about. Were they really afraid Leo would turn against them and hurt them? Or just turn feral for no reason? 

‘You need to gain their trust back.’ Hueso’s words flow in Leo’s thoughts. It was from a conversation he had many times with the bone man before the others even knew about him. 

‘How can I even earn their trust if they avoid me?’ Leo thought. Raph and Donnie spend only a few minutes in the same room with him before he or his brothers went out of the room. The only one that did spend more than 15 minutes around him was Mikey. But Leo didn’t need to get too close before the orange turtle took a hick. And to think Mikey feared him the least. It was Raph and Donnie who feared him the most, followed by his dad and April. 

Leo turned his eyes back to the comic, trying to convince himself they will trust him again.

\--

Donnie sat in his chair, staring at the computer. He looked through the notes he had gathered from his brothers. He had asked them to keep an eye on Leo, making mental notes so he could add it to his research. 

“As I stated in my earlier audio log, I’m starting to get more concerned about what Leonardo is capable of. The more tests I conduct the more I get the feeling he’s holding back. Not performing at his max. I’m sure he has heard us talking even with my music on. Of course, once Mikey asked him, he denied everything. He might fool Mikey but not me.” 

Donnie paused for a bit before speaking again. “I’m not sure what to think about this air quotes Leo. He makes me feel like being prey around a predator. Playing a cat and mouse game, waiting until he finally decides to attack.” 

“I’d never thought I’d hear this coming from you, Dee.” Turning his chair around, Donnie saw their human friend, April standing behind him. “How could you even think of him like that?! He’s you’re brother!”

Donnie didn’t know what to say. “April-“

“Don’t you, April me!” She scolded at the turtle. “Did he ever act differently before you knew he was a dragon? No! The only reason he acts weird right now is that you guys are afraid of him!” 

“I’m not afraid!”

“Oh really?” April asked, placing her hands on her hips. “Then explain to me why you’re here and not hanging out?”

“I’m working on my research!”

April threw her hand in the air and walked towards Donnie’s computer. “You call that research?!” She said pointing at the screen. “Making a file what he’s capable of? What tests you still need to do, making audio logs about being afraid of him?! He’s not an animal you need to study, Donnie!”

“Technically we are animals.” Donnie pointed out. 

“That’s not the point! The point is he’s your brother! Not some mystic animal you need to study!” April sighed, rubbing her eyes for a moment before turning her glance back to the turtle in front of her. “I don’t know if Splints has told you guys, but the reason why I stayed away for two days is that I was afraid.”

Donnie looked suspired at the human. April’s never been afraid of anything. “What did he do?”

“He’d wanted to attack me after I’d set him free.” April sighed, rubbing her left upper arm as the memories entered. Her eyes drifted back to the ground. “He was so close, Don. I’d feel his breath, saw his fangs coming closer…If it wasn’t for you’re dad, he would have…”

“Why didn’t you tell us? Why did you even agree to get him out of the garage?”

“Because you guys already enough afraid of him.” April looked back up. “And I agreed because I wanted to face my fear. Deep within me, I know Leo won’t hurt me. They did something to him. They made him turn into a feral. And right now, Leo needs to know I’m not afraid of him anymore.”

“Give him a chance, Dee. And treat him like a brother. Not as a test subject.” With that April left the lab. 

\--

Draxum looked up when he heard someone knock on his door. He hoped it wasn’t one of his pesky apartment neighbors again. He was a bit surprised to see Mikey standing at the door. The young turtle already visited him twice this week. “Michelangelo, what are you doing here?” 

“Nothing! Just checking on you.” The young turtle smiled, walking to his apartment. 

“Mmmh.” Draxum watched the turtle, closing the door, and followed Mikey to the couch. “Michelangelo, is there something wrong?”

“Nope! Nuh-uh, everything is fine.” Mikey smiled before sighing and his shoulder dropping. “It’s Leo.”

“Something happened to your brother?” 

“No, well yes. We’ve found out a week ago Leo’s the dragon we’ve been hunting for months.”

Draxum nodded. Mikey has been reporting him about the dragon since he knew one was flying around the city. It has been a while since he heard something new about it. “He got captured by the foot. When we found him, he wasn’t the same dragon we hunted for months. They somehow turned him feral. Why did they do that? What will their customer do with a feral dragon?”

Draxum thought for a moment. He had a hunch who the customer could be but decided to keep it for himself for now. “I’m not sure who it could be, but illegal dragon fighting pits are very popular for the underground.” 

“Wait, why hold on. Illegal dragon fighting pits? How can they be illegal?” Mikey moved his eyes back up to the ex-villain. 

“Dragon fighting pits became illegal after more evidence showed up on how bloody the sport can be and what needs to be done to keep the dragon feral. It’s the same reason why humans are against dogfighting.”

“But what about Big Mama? I’ve heard she holds them too in the Nexus.”

“Big Mama is the most powerful yokai in the hidden city when it comes to money and making deals,” Draxum explained. “She must have made a tight deal with the police and the city, forcing them to look the other way.”

“I’d wish Leo told us sooner. We could have helped him. Help him with controlling his instincts. Find out why he’s the only one able to change.” Mikey said as his eyes wandered around the room. 

“I might be responsible for that.” Mikey shifted his glance towards Draxum. What did he just say?

“Before I captured your dad, I’ve injected one of you with a serum I’ve made. My purpose was to create powerful warriors, being able to change into dragons at their will. I’ve kept a close eye at you four as I didn’t recall which one of you was injected with the serum. I’ve always thought the experiment failed as none of you showed any signs of being a turtle dragon. Until now.”

“Why did you do that?!” Mikey yelled, jumping up from the couch. 

“I’m a scientist. It’s what I do.” Draxum deadpanned.

Mikey groaned in frustration, throwing his arms in the air and rolling his eyes. “I just can’t believe you did that, Draxum.” Mikey sighed, sitting back down. “Do you even realize how much trouble you caused for him?”

“No. I do not.”

Mikey glared at the yokai. “A bit more sensitive, please. Or do you want another talk with Doctor Feelings?”

Draxum sighed, closing his eyes for a moment. “Look, I can’t make up for what I’ve done in the past. I might have caused some trouble for your brother.”

“You did cause trouble.” Mikey interrupted. 

“But that doesn’t mean I can help him with his problems. If he allows me to.”

Mikey smiled, grabbing Draxum into a hug. “Thanks, Draxy. I knew we could count on you.”

Draxum smiled, hugging the young turtle back. 

\--

Splinter sighed. After a long argument, he finally got Purple off the computer and into his bed. That boy really needs to learn when to stop working. But Splinter couldn’t blame him fully. Splinter was curious too to know what his second youngest was capable of. But that didn’t mean Purple’s sleep need to suffer for it. 

Splinter walked towards Orange’s bedroom. He already checked on Red and was sure Purple wouldn’t be sneaking back to his lab, working on his research. Splinter smiled, seeing the youngest sleeping peacefully in his hammock. He adjusts the blanket, making sure Orange was tugged in well for the night. Splinter planted a kiss on Orange head before pushing the hammock slightly, allowing it to rock gently. 

Stopping at the last bedroom of his sons, Splinter smiled. The blue bandana turtle wasn’t sleeping restlessly for once. After observing Blue for a few weeks, he noticed he was sleeping restlessly or not sleeping at all. Suffering more from his insomnia than usual. 

Confronting Blue about it wouldn’t help. He would have hidden his fear with those silly one-liners of his. 

Splinter walked into his son’s room, pulling the blanket a bit higher. He looked around in the room, feeling something was missing, and saw the teddy bear, Mr. Brown. Blue hasn’t slept with Mr. Brown for a while. But once Splinter slides the bear into the Red slider arms, Blue grabbed Mr. Brown into a hug, nuzzling his beak into the bear’s head.

“Sleep well, my son.” The old rat whispered before leaving the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm kinda debating if I should let the story continue after chapter 11 drops. Are you intrested enough to learn more about Draxum's original plan and the custumor?


	11. Fear

Three of the four turtles stood in an abandoned subway tunnel. Donnie wanted to do some tests with Leo. Leo didn’t know what tests were going to be or why his older brother Raph was here with them.

“Everything is set.” Donnie said finishing setting up cameras and was typing whatever on his laptop. “ ’Nardo if you kindly would change?”

Leo nodded, walking a bit further away from the two. The feeling of being watched, especially while he was changing, was uncomfortable at best. At least their fear scent stayed the same.

He made some stretch movements before facing his brothers, waiting for the next order. “The first test is seeing how fast you can fly. I’d rather do it outside, but we happened to live in a city that never sleeps, so the tunnels have to do.”

Leo nodded, getting ready to take off as fast he can. “Ready? Set, go!”

With a powerful flap of his wings, Leo was airborne at ease. With few more powerful flaps followed, he allowed himself to gain speed fast, sending him off into the tunnel, letting his brothers enjoy the dust cloud he created on the way. 

Adrenaline rushed through his veins while he kept increasing speed. The enjoyment of it was short as the tunnel abruptly stopped into a dead-end, he tried slowing down by turning, but he was too close, sending his shell first crashing into the brick wall. 

“Leo!” an echoed voice called him. Leo rolled back on his paws, shaking his head. He decided to fly back a lesser fast. He didn’t want to repeat that again.

“Are you alright?” the snapper asked worried. “We heard some noise.” 

“What can I say? I got addicted to brake fluid. But I can stop whenever I want.” 

Donnie facepalmed while Raph shakes his head before asking, “You’ve crashed into a wall did you?”

Leo flashed his brother a sheepish toothy grin.

“Next test is strength. See if you can beat Raph in a fight.” Donnie spoke, ignoring the dragon stupidity. 

“Hey, aren’t you going to tell me how fast I was?”

“You crashed into a wall making us hear it, I assume you can guess how fast you were.” Donnie didn’t bother looking up from his laptop as he continued typing away on it. 

“His laptop fell when you took off. ”

Donnie shot a glare at Raph. “You’re up, Raph.”

Raph smirked at the dragon, cracking his knuckles while he stepped forward. “The rules are no flying and spitting fire.” Donnie said while looking at his laptop. 

Leo watched Raph running towards him with a battle cry once Donnie gave the go. Raph jumped up in the air and landed on Leo’s back. Leo knew exactly what Raph was doing to do. Muzzling him with his hands and try to take control of him. 

But not this time. 

Leo successfully threw Raph off, by turning around fast when Raph moved his hands to his snout, making him fly off his back onto the ground. 

Raph grinned at him while getting back up. The two looked into each other's eyes before charging to each other, locking paws and hands into each other as they got into a pushing contest. 

‘Man he’s strong!’ Raph thought, gritted his teeth as he tried to push the dragon out of balance. Raph pushed harder once he felt Leo weakening for a moment, managing to push Leo off balance and throwing him onto the ground. 

Raph jumped on Leo pinning him down before he even got the chance of getting back up. Something must have snapped in Leo’s mind as Leo started to move wildly, growling like an angry beast trying to get out of his cage. 

This alarmed Donnie when noticed the change of behavior. He wanted to warn the eldest when Leo managed to get out of Raph’s grip, immediately getting back on his paws. 

Raph walked backward from the dragon as it dangerously growled at him, showing his fangs and lowering his head more to the ground, showing more signs of Leo not being fully in control anymore.

“Raph, be careful,” Donnie warned, grabbing his tech bo and threw Raph’s tonfa’s towards him. “He has no control anymore.

“Yeah, I noticed.” Raph eyed Leo, waiting for the dragon’s next move. 

With any warning, Leo jumped on Raph, surprising him a bit with the full-body attack, making him stumbled and fall on the ground with the dragon on top of him. 

Raph shoved both of his tonfa’s in front of him, stopping the bite attack from his little brother. 

“Ugh, you’re breath stinks, Leo.” Raph wrinkled his noise when Leo’s breath hit his nostrils. He gritted his teeth. The dragon responded with growling, biting harder into the tonfa’s. 

The dragon immediately released the tonfa’s when the pain struck him from the side. Looking at the one causing it, Leo turned his full attention to Donnie, growling and showing his fangs in anger for getting stung with electricity. 

Donnie grabbed his tech bo tighter while walking backward, knowing well he had his brother's full attention now. 

Seeing Leo getting ready to attack the purple turtle, Raph dropped his tonfa’s on the ground, grabbed the dragon's tail, and pulled him back from Donnie. “Sorry, buddy,” Raph said before raising his fist, slamming it into his brother’s face and knocking him out cold. 

Both Donnie and Raph sighed. “That went well,” Raph said, looking at the unconscious dragon on the ground. 

“That was strange.” Donnie walked back to the laptop, typing the new info down. “Pops said he wasn’t acting like this when he fought him the first time. He was more in control, worried he might hurt him. The foot must have done something to get triggered like this. I have a theory, but I need to do some more tests.”

“Whatever it is, we need to find out what it is before some accidents happen.” Raph slides his arms under the dragon, picking him up with ease. “Let’s go back home.”

\--

As they walked back to the lair, Raph felt some movement in his arms, telling him his little brother is waking up. 

“Heya, buddy,” Raph said in a sweet tone. “Sorry for knocking you out. But it was the only way to stop you from going .”

Raph looked down worried when the dragon in his arms stayed silent. Leo laid his head on Raph’s upper arm and stared in front of him as he recalled what happened in the tunnels.

“Leo?”

“I’m sorry.” Leo mumbled changing back into his normal form, not caring anymore if his brothers watched him or not. 

“It’s alright, Leo.” Reassured Raph, squeezing gently Leo’s arm. 

“It’s not, Raph. I could have….”

“But you didn’t. We stopped you before you even could…hurt us.” 

Leo sighed. The thought of what could have happened if they didn’t stop him terrorized his mind. Raph stopped walking and pushed the slider up into a sitting position on his arm, forcing him to look at him. 

“Stop overthinking. You didn’t hurt us.”Raph looked into Leo’s eyes, hoping he stopped Leo from feeding the dark thoughts in his mind. “Don’t worry, we’ll figure it out.”

“The foot must have done something to you. There has to be a reason why you lose control so easily during battles. Pops said you weren’t like this when you fought him. Do you recall what happened that day?” Donnie said, typing away on his wrist computer. 

“No.” Leo lied. He did know what happened that day, but not all of it. Just a bit of piece here and there. 

“Mmmh.” Donnie looked at his brother doubtfully. “I want to take a sample of your blood when we’re back home.”

Leo nodded, knowing it was the best way to figure out what happened to him. 

\--

Mikey sat alone at the kitchen table, making some drawings when he noticed his brother in blue walk in. 

‘He walked in silence into the kitchen with grease. Like a predator, finally finding his next prey, looking for the best way to attack. Quite, quick and deadly.’

Mikey jerked himself from his thoughts, forcing his eyes back to the paper. ‘Woah! Stop right there creative brain! This is my brother you’re making fantasies about!’

‘But Donnie did mention he walked like that. As a predator. What if he loses control again? This time for good? He easily can finish you without a blink.’

Mikey tightened his grip on the pencil. ‘Stop it, Michelangelo! He’s your brother! He never hurt anyone before anyone knew he was a dragon! Why would he do it now?’

‘Because he changed. Ever since we knew what he really is he’s been acting strange.’

Mikey bit his lip, struggling to fight the overreacting imaginations. 

Leo would never hurt anyone! 

“You okay, Mike?” 

Mikey looked up from the drawing, seeing the turtle dragon looking at him from a distance. “Ye-ye-yeah!” Mikey stuttered grabbing his stuff together in a hurry and jumped up. “I have to go. Need to check on Draxum. Bye!”

Mikey ran out of the kitchen, failing to see the hurtful eyes of his brother. 

\--

Leo dropped his shoulders and sighed, watching the orange turtle left him alone in a hurry. ‘They did tell him.’ Leo thought disappointed. He hoped Raph and Donnie didn’t mention anything to Mikey. But then again, they have been updating each other for a week now. 

“Blue.” Leo looked up seeing his father at the kitchen door. “Come with me. We need to talk.” 

Leo followed the rat to the dojo. Splinter signaled to him to sit down. Leo obeyed and sat down in a Burmese position on the dojo mat.

“Blue, I’ve noticed you’ve been struggling.” Splinter started, sitting down as well. 

“Me? Struggling? I’m not struggling at all! Everything is fine.” Leo smiled, trying to wave his real emotions away. He wasn’t in the mood for another talk. Raph tried that in private when they got home. 

“Then tell me, why did you hide in your room after you came back from the tunnels?”

“I was tired,” Leo lied weakly. He knew his father saw immediately through it by the look on his face. But was happy when Splinter continued to speak.

“I would like to try something with you.” Splinter held up his hand, stopping Blue from protesting. “Don’t worry, you do not have to change.”

Splinter looked at him so before speaking again. “I want to teach you mediation.” 

“Mediation?!” Leo repeated before groaning. “Dad, it won’t work on me. You can’t silence my mind with crappy music and forced daydreaming.”

“I know. I’ve told my sensei the exact same thing.” Splinter said before placing his hand on Leo’s shoulder. “But you need to try it, Blue.”

“It may help. To gain more control over this.” Leo sighed and slumped his shoulders. His dad was right. He should try it. For his family’s sake. “Alright, what do I have to do?”

“Close your eyes, focus on your breathing.” Splinter instructed, watching his son follow his instructions. “Take a deep inhale and slowly exhale. Don’t let your mind wander.”

“You know to who you’re talking right?” Leo cracked one eye open, noticing barely a tail coming his way smacking him on his head. “Ow!” 

“Focus!”

Leo rubbed the sore spot before closing his eyes again and focused on his breathing. Inhaling deeply and exhaling slowly. 

“If you feel your mind start to wander, refocus again on your breathing.”

Doing what he was told, Leo focused on his breathing, forcing his mind not to wander. 

After a few minutes of trying, Leo groaned loudly, opening his eyes again. “It doesn’t work, dad.” He told the old rat, slouching his posture. “I can’t stop myself from wandering.”

“Mmhhh. ” Splinter said, stroking his goatee softly with his hand. Seeing Blue sulking over his failer, Splinter placed his hand on the young turtle’s shoulder, looking with caring eyes before speaking again. “It’s alright, Leonardo. You’ve tried. No one became a master in mediation in a day. But right now, I think a long walk or in your case, flying, would help to clear your mind for now.”

Splinter removed his hand from the blue turtle's shoulder and stood back up. “We shall continue this training tomorrow.”

\--

“Hey, guys!” April greeted the brothers while walking into the turtle lair. 

“Hey, April!” Raph and Mikey greeted, looking up from their lifting weights and cooking book. Donnie gave her a wave while he continued typing on his laptop. 

April looked around, noticing Leo isn’t with them. “Where’s Leo?”

All three looked at each other not knowing where the missing brother was. “Have you seen him?” Raph asked his brothers. 

“No, not since tunnels,” Donnie answered. 

“And I only saw him in the kitchen, but that was a few hours ago.” 

“According to the bracelet I gave him, he isn’t in the lair,” Donnie said, looking on his computer where the blue turtle could be. “I can track him do-“

“No.” All of them looked up seeing Splinter enter the skateboarding area. “I have sent Blue away.”

“But why?” Raph asked worriedly. 

“So we can have a private talk without Blue overhearing it with his sensitive ears. Besides he needed a walk to clear his mind. And probably ended up at his friend's place.” Reassured Splinter the eldest. “He’ll be safe.” 

“Sensitive hearing?” Mikey asked surprised. “What do you mean Leo has sensitive hearing? Leo can hear us talking over the loud music?!”

“Michael, I told you this already. Nardo’s auditory perception is better than any of us. He can hear us talking over the music If he wants to!” 

“Then why didn’t he respond when I was talking about the new tv chef?!  
”  
Both brothers looked at each other before turning their eyes back at the youngest. “Selective deaf.” They both answered deadpanned. 

Splinter cleared his throat. “Now that we’re all here and Blue is away, we need to talk about our fear of Blue.”

“Our fear?” Donnie repeated, raising his eyebrow.

“Yes purple, our fear.” Splinter looked around at each turtle and human. “I have told Blue to give us time, but the more we all learn about him, the more we become afraid of him.”

All of them looked down at the ground. Splinter was right. The more they learned about Leo’s abilities as a dragon, the more they are afraid of their brother and friend. 

“We all need to spend more time with him and not run away as soon we see him enter the room or if he comes too close to us.” Splinter said, looking at Raph, Donnie and Mikey. 

“Running away?” Raph said in confusion. 

“I don’t run away. I’m just busy doing research.” Donnie defended his actions. 

Mikey stayed still. He admits to himself he has been running away from Leo as soon he gets closer to him. He just can’t help it. His imagination just starts to go wild when Leo in the room with him. And if the blue turtle comes closer, he needs to get away from him. 

“Locking yourself in your room all day is running away, Dee.” April pointed out. “When was the last time you did something with him? Besides using him as a test subject? When was we all hanged out with him? It’s already been a week since you guys found out.”

“Hey you’ve been running away too, you know!” Donnie looked at the human pointing at her. “You’ve stayed two days away from the lair!”

“At least I admit I am afraid of him and trying to do something about it! Unlike you!” April snapped back. 

“Why did you stay away from the lair anyway, April?” Mikey wondered. 

“She stayed away because Leo attacked her! If it wasn’t for pops, Leo would have injured her!”

“Donnie!”

“The same thing happened today, April! Me and Raph had to stop him from attacking us! This is why I air quote hide in my room! I want to prevent situations like this!”

“Enough!” Splinter’s rang through the lair, silencing the bickering between the two. Moving his eyes to the purple turtle he spoke; “What has happen today?” 

“Me and Leo were sparring. Something snapped when I managed to pin him down on the ground. He turned feral instantly.” Raph explained what happened this morning. “I knocked him out when I had the chance.”

Splinter nodded. So this is the reason why Blue was sulking in the dojo earlier. 

“I’ve tested his blood for a few days now.” Purple started, calling an image on his wrist computer. “There are traces of sort of drug in his system. I have a theory this drug is affecting Leo’s controlling his other side.”

“And you were going to tell us when?” Raph asked absorbing the new information he reserved. 

“The levels of it in his blood are much lower now than last week, but still causing problems for him.” Donnie said, ignoring the red turtle as he typed away again, looking if he finds anything about the drug. “For some reason, I can’t find any information about it or anything related to it. It might get harder to make an antidote if Leo gets exposed to it again.” 

“You won’t find anything about it because it was banned.” Splinter said. All eyes moved to him. “The hidden city police removed any information of it to prevent anyone using it again.”

Splinter sighed, before taking a deep breath. “The substance was used to make dragons ready for their battles in the fighting pits.”

“Fighting pits?!” Mikey spoke horrified. “Draxum told me about those! But he didn’t mention any dragon feral making drugs!”

“That’s because the drugs were forbidden before the dragon fighting pits became illegal.” Splinter explained. “As Purple stated, Blue must have gotten a high dosage of it. It could be the main reason why he is still becoming feral after getting all worked up in your play fight.” Splinted looked at the two eldest turtles. 

“So what do we do now?” Raph asked, rubbing his arm uncomfortable, knowing it was his fault Leo turned into a feral unwillingly. 

“We have been afraid of Blue long enough. It is time we conquer our fears and show Blue he’s not alone in this.” Splinter looked around in the room, making sure his words were heard. “I suggest you keep looking for an antidote formula, Purple. If Blue ever may get exposed to it again, then at least we can treat him before anything bad happens.” 

Mikey looked determined around the room before stretching out his hand holding it in the middle of the group. “For Leo.” 

Raph smiled and nodded, placing his big hand on top of his brother's hand. “For our brother.” 

“For my friend.” April said, placing hers as well. 

Donnie looked at the group before doing the same. “For Nardo, who definitely needs our help.”

Splinter smiled and slowly his hand on top of the pile. “For my family.” 

\--

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for taking so long to upload this chapter. In October, I was lacking interest in writing anything. That's why Trick Or treat is so forced as I've forced myself writing it for a Halloween event. I didn't want to give you a crappy chapter, so I've turned to gaming and kinda got lost in it. I'd rather give you guys quality than quantity.
> 
> The good part of leaving writing alone for a while is that it did give me the mood to write again. I'm already working on the next chapter and a new story is eager to see the day. 
> 
> Hope you love this chapter!

**Author's Note:**

> More? 
> 
> Leo's design is based on JazzTheTiger's art


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